Despite backlash from some uptown business owners, Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle approved a route that almost completely bypasses Court Street.
Despite some resistance from some uptown business owners, the city is marching forward with plans for the Ohio University Homecoming Parade.
The route, submitted by OU’s Campus Involvement Center, will bypass Court Street almost entirely and will travel from Union Street to President Street before heading toward Baker Center.
Angie Waldren, executive assistant to Athens Police Department Chief Tom Pyle, said the permit was officially approved by the chief Wednesday night.
Members of the Athens Uptown Business Owners Association have said the route will discourage parade spectators from venturing farther Uptown and patronizing Athens businesses.
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="9c73f8aa-5673-11e5-9b49-d304b7cb68a0"}}
“The parade route’s not up to us,” Waldren said. “The person who fills out the parade permit application tells us what streets they want to use. We don’t decide the streets that they go down.”
The amount of time the parade has spent on Court Street has been diminishing for several years, due initially to inappropriate jeers from spectators at uptown bars.
This year, the university chopped off another block from the route to avoid construction on East Union Street, which is still undergoing recovery from November’s fire.
Gene Armes, spokesman for the Athens Uptown Business Owners Association, said the group has proposed an alternative route that would bypass the uptown bars to be considered in future years.
That route would enter Court Street at the north end, then take a detour onto State Street, College Street and then back onto Court.
Neither Armes nor Brian Heilhelmer of OU’s Campus Involvement Center were available for comment Friday.
@wtperkins
wp198712@ohio.edu
